God of This City - Chris Tomlin

Stronger - Hillsong

God of Ages - Hillsong

Tear Down the Walls - Hillsong United

Even within our own Springs church family people are struggling with health issues, troubled marriages, broken trust - the list goes on.  What’s the deal?  I call it warfare.

Pastor Sean spoke yesterday about life being a battleground and how we need only worship God through the fight.  God fights the battle for us, but He wants us to keep focused on Him.  God feeds off of our worship.  He doesn’t need it, but He desires it.  I wonder how many of these famous people that have recently passed knew this amazing God.  How many were able to gain comfort in their last moments knowing that they were going to see this amazing God face to face?  How many had their own so-called amazing god that they were focused on? How many fans are devastated at the loss of their god?  

Here’s what I say, one God, one Hope, one Savior.  The battleground is all around and God calls us to take up the battle stance - worship.  Pray for those who do not know, who have not heard, or refuse to believe the unwavering power of the one and only God.  Seek God on how we can make a difference in the lives of so many who have no idea.  Be encouraged in your own battle that God is in control.

In the name of the King,

Heidi

July 5th worship set:

You’ll Come - Hillsong United

Better is One Day - Matt Redman

Jesus Paid It All - Kristian Stanfill

Lord of Lords - Hillsong

How Great is Our God - Chris Tomlin

People must think I’m crazy because I talk out loud to God all day long.  I talk to him in the store, at the gas pump, in my house, at the gym, pretty much anywhere at any time.  I remember one time a few years ago I was sitting in a medical facility waiting to have an x-ray taken, okay some of you ladies 40 and older can relate - you know the one I’m talking about!  Sorry guys you’ll just have to grin and bear the thought! Anyway, I’m sitting there waiting for the technician to call me back, and I had the most intense anxiety come over me.  I started to pray out loud and I asked Jesus to hold my hand.  I opened my hand and imagined Jesus sitting there with me holding my hand and telling me to relax and trust.  Need I say it worked?  Even though I couldn’t see Him, just the belief that His presence was there was all it took.  You might think this is kind of a corny story, but for me it was real.  Jesus was in that room with me and I knew it.

Seek Jesus, know that He is real and He is anywhere you need Him to be at anytime You need Him to be there.  

I’m serious,

Heidi

Songset for June 25:

Solution - Hillsong United

One Way - Hillsong United

None But Jesus - Hillsong 

Desert Song - Hillsong United

Tear Down the Walls - Hillsong United

Heidi

Play list for June 14th:

Come Thou Fount - David Crowder Band

Desert Song - Hillsong United

Your Unfailing Love - Hillsong

By Your Side - Tenth Avenue North

May the Road Rise to Meet You - Jackopierce

So the church has started this read through the Bible in 90 days thing and man is it kicking me! It’s pretty much between 10 and 16 chapters a day. Trying to trudge through the geneologies in Genesis is like trying to jog through a pit of tar, but I will say that the Old Testament is full of surprises.

I’m finding out that Jacob was not a nice person. The father of the tribes of Israel was a trickster and a thief. He steals both the birthright and blessing from his older brother and gets away with it! So much of Jacob’s life was spent in a back and forth limbo of sorts between his poor actions and his devoted worship of God, even wrestling with Him. Yet God never moved away from Jacob. I find this such a relevant issue.

We spend so much time coming back and forth between the world, our own desires, and God, but He never moves from where He was when we left Him.

Worship needs to be the response to the God who never moves. A response to God for who He IS first, and then, because of who He is, we can praise and thank Him for what He’s done.

In Genesis 32 it says,

“So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

Jacob wrestled with God and was adamant about the blessing that he would receive because of it. I never want to lose the wrestling heart of Jacob. Wrestle through your worship. Wrestle in your prayers. Wrestle in your reading of the scriptures. Dig deep. Go to the God who never moves with boldness and engage with Him for what you honestly desire.

Stay tuned to the web-site for more info on our joint mission project with The Net Church and Origin Church.  It’s gonna be amazing. 

Here’s the set list from today, June 7:

Tell the World - Hillsong United

Take It All - Hillsong United

God of Ages - Hillsong

Hosanna - Hillsong United

At the Foot of the Cross - Greg Ferguson (Willow Creek)

Be blessed,

Heidi

Hey everyone. So the summer has started. It is hot today. Traffic’s picking up, kids are almost out of school, the weather’s getting hotter, people are wearing less and less (most of the time these are people who should be wearing more and more) and life is making it’s switch to some of the hottest days of the year. But summer isn’t really where I’m headed with this. There’s a lot of change looming around the corner for me. The church is ever changing to meet the needs of the community and to follow the will of God and it got me thinking about how different the Fall is going to look. My little brother, well not so little brother, is graduating from high school and leaving for college. I’m finishing up my last semester of college and headed toward my second graduation in life. Things are changing and I can’t do a thing about it.

Things change and they look different.

I was reading another blog today (http://hillsongunited.com/blog/2009/05/art-visual-semantics) and I felt really at home with Joel is saying and it all comes down to this: the church is blinded by the change that is happening (or by the passion of it’s young people) and is focusing on the wrong things. There’s a popular thought that “Oh, they’re just young and fiesty, they’ll get realistic later in life.” For instance, Joel talks about the album covers they’ve produced over the years and how no one really gets what they’re doing. There’s always a voice in the crowd that says, “If the album’s called Look To You, why are all the people on the cover looking down?” As if God is in the sky. Or “There’s a tattoo showing, are you sure you’re really following Jesus by condoning that kind of thing?” Ridiculous. The great theologian, Bob Dylan, once said “The times they are a changin’” So true.

So I originally wrote something a little harsh here, but after it was brought to my attention felt that I was missing the point. Too often do I call out others associated with the church and followers of Jesus. Times are changing. I am zealous at times, but we’ve got to come together before we can tear down the walls.

But…I won’t even get started on the tattoo thing…ha ha.

D

“40″ by U2

You Lifted Me Out - Chris Tomlin

For All You’ve Done - Hillsong

Came to My Rescue - Hillsong

Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper

As you can see we are focused on the goodness of God and His mercy given to us.  It’s easy to find ourselves stuck in a pit or sinking in miry clay due to junk in our life or just bad decisions, but we have God who is more than willing to pull us out.  I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.  Oh and by the way, it works so much better if you reach up as He pulls you out!  Never hurts to lend a hand.

Can’t wait until Sunday!  Hope to see you at The Springs.

Heidi

Just to let everyone know, Hillsong United has a new album out now which is fantastic. We do a lot of their songs.

Anyway. I have been thinking a lot about what worship is and I know I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again. Worship has nothing to do with us. At its very essence, worship is a response to the worth of God. We worship because we have deemed Him worthy. He is worthy of everything that we have, and if we don’t give every ounce of ourselves in worship, that part of ourselves doesn’t feel that God is worthy. It feels that He is worthless.  It’s time to tear down some walls.

Many of you who will read this have been burned, misguided, shunned, ignored, brainwashed, etc. by a church or the Christians that inhabit those churches. It hurts me to say that, but here’s the deal, you can change all that. WE can change all that by tearing down the walls of our hearts, tearing down the walls of our churches, tearing down the walls between each other, and bringing restoration to the little thing God calls HIS church. WE ARE THE CHURCH AND WE SHOULD WORSHIP LIKE IT.

Derek